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OhHello - The Power of Connection ...And Why It Matters
61 Plays2 years ago
As the OhHello Inc. 🌞☕️ OhHello.io community continues to bloom, we're creating a series of non-fluffy, live interactive sessions, to provide guidance and answers to your 🔥 questions...
Come join us on Monday 7/10! Sign-up below to attend
👩🏽💻,🎧, and 💬 w/ Julie Fleischer, Jami Crist, Kevin Bryant, and OhHello's Jeremy Bloom as we talk about the importance of building a powerful network.
What: "THE POWER OF CONNECTION ...AND WHY IT MATTERS"
This was previously live streamed on LinkedIn, Youtube, and Twitter / X
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Transcript
Introductions and Purpose
00:00:24
Speaker
Oh, hello. Hello. Hi, Julie. Hi, Jamie. Hi, Kevin. How are you? Hello. You're waiting for the music. I know. The music was. It's your music. I know. I know. Well.
00:00:41
Speaker
Those that are watching live, you're going to have the pleasure of watching Jamie's Pod sometime soon. You've already seen Julie's Pod, which was amazing. You've seen Kevin's, which was amazing. Part of what we're doing and the reason we're doing this is
00:00:57
Speaker
We had a session that we did we had a series of sessions called everyone can about two weeks ago and it was such an inclusive amazing event where Those that were in the south of france at can those that were working from home those that are looking for work Those that are in the office. It didn't matter where you were dialing in from we just wanted to be able to provide really good crisp content for everyone from
00:01:21
Speaker
to enhance inclusivity and essentially because of that, we thought, okay, well, here's another opportunity to get some of the, oh, hello mentors, the hellos to come back and to do this now in a regular routine. So today's
Marketing Experiences and Mentorship
00:01:39
Speaker
content is essentially on the power of connection, why it matters. So with us today, we have Jamie, Julie, and Kevin. We're going to go around the horn real quick.
00:01:49
Speaker
I'd love for each of you to introduce yourself. This is informal. This is fun. We're all doing this to help people. So let's start with Jamie. Awesome. Well, hello, everybody. I see Lee and Barbara. Barbara made the connection with you, Jeremy. So I have to give her a shout out for this. Barbara's awesome. Jamie, Chris, I am currently we're home with Beach Delaware. It is my happy place. But I'm originally based from Baltimore, Maryland. And at that time there, I've been over there for 15 years.
00:02:17
Speaker
A big part of my life there was Under Armour was there for 13 plus years in the sports marketing world, events, all different aspects of marketing you could think of at that time with that growing brand and then made the move over to the CPG world with super coffee. And just for me, I just love marketing. I love creating community. Community is a big part of who I am and what's helped me get through my chapters of life. And I love creating authentic and powerful partnerships. So excited to see what's to come. But for right now, I am
00:02:44
Speaker
with my one-year-old and fought hard for her. And she's an absolute miracle and just happy and enjoying the summer and being on the show right now. It's exciting to be here, Jeremy. So thank you. Thank you, Jamie. We're excited and you are incredibly authentic. And that's part of the reason why having someone who could talk about personal branding is going to be great for the session. Julie Fleischer, an MVP to many,
00:03:09
Speaker
Oh, and Jamie, I'm headed to Reho with beach this week. So no way. Yeah, I should meet up. We will meet up. This is the power of connectivity. So hey, I'm Julie Fleischer. I am delighted to be here. I am a long time marketing person.
00:03:33
Speaker
I've worked in CPG, worked in agency, working in healthcare and startup land right now. And I am on the board of She Runs It. We do a lot of mentorship and development for women and men too in marketing and advertising and technology.
00:03:52
Speaker
And
Networking Insights and Misconceptions
00:03:53
Speaker
I, you know, I think I learned later in my career than optimal just about how strong, like how great it was to be a resource to people and to be a connector to people.
00:04:06
Speaker
Um, and to put people in contact with each other and just help people out. And I feel like at this point in my career, that's one of the things that I can really do. And so I take great pride in being a connector and trying to, you know, help people along the way as they, you know, grow and develop. And so it brings me great joy and I'm delighted to be here to talk about it with these fine people. Love that, Julie. Kevin Bryant. Hey. Hello.
00:04:31
Speaker
You know what? Hello to you as well, Jeremy. No, it's so good to be here for the second time. And again, my name is Kevin Bryant. I'm from the best city in the world, if you guessed Chicago. That's right, Chi-town, but White Sox, I'll always rip them.
00:04:48
Speaker
But currently I work at Adobe and my job is the customer success manager in higher education. So I work with a lot of big 10 schools on their Adobe contract. I call myself Mr. Adobe. But the reason why I absolutely love that we're still here is because, you know, I started my career in sales, which is why me and Jeremy get along so well.
00:05:08
Speaker
that I went to digital marketing and I met a whole different group of people, right? And now I'm at Adobe and I'm doing, I don't know, kind of a mix of like account management and consulting. I don't know what, you know, I'm kind of like the do-it-all person, but at each stage of my career, it was because of the connections that I had made and the networking.
00:05:25
Speaker
And so I'm a living testament of this is what networking does. I had to switch careers. I had to follow up with all these people. I had to get all these referrals. I had to figure things out. And I could not have done it without the power of networking and connection. So it's very real to me. And that's why I love being on this panel.
00:05:41
Speaker
Kevin, it's a great way to kick it off. So what exactly does having a network mean to you? What is, what is networking? Because we hear this term all of the time. It gets ingrained in your head. Some people are like, Oh, I hate that. I don't want to have anything to do with it. Others are, sounds great. Sounds like you get to meet new people. Yeah. I think when people think about network, they think about going to a networking event, talking to someone that they'd have no interest in. And both of them just trying to get something out of each other. Right. And that's what everyone detests. Everyone hates that.
00:06:10
Speaker
When I think about network, I'm like, hey, who are my old coworkers, my old bosses, the old people that I worked with that I built connections with. Those connections I tell everyone, I'm like, even if you leave this job, we are still going to be connected. We're still in the same industry or I'm still gonna follow you on social media and watch your life. We spend a lot of time with these people every day at work or connecting with them or trying to grow their business. And it's, a lot of times the work life kind of relationship kind of blends. And it's like, you know what?
00:06:40
Speaker
You've become kind of like a friend to me. You know, I speak to you as much as I do my other friends. I see you more than I see my own family. And to me, that is what my network is. You know, I have a lot of friends that are ex-coworkers. And it seemed weird at first, but I'm like, no, I mean, it makes sense. We spend so much time with these people and
00:06:57
Speaker
eventually that has turned into,
Generosity and Genuine Connections
00:06:59
Speaker
hey, I got an opening for you at this job that I'm in. You're a great person. I know you work intimately and I'd love for you to come work for us. So that's happened to me so many different times. So to me, a network is an actual real friendship that develops over time, not some fake, here's my card, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah type of thing. That to me has never worked. That's never worked. Okay. That's my thoughts.
00:07:22
Speaker
Julie, I see you nodding. I see you laughing a bit. I feel like networking has always gotten a bad rap because it feels like it's, you know, like small talk with someone you don't know. And I think people think of it as very transactional. And I think when you feel it out and say, OK, it's really not transactional, it's just about getting to know people.
00:07:42
Speaker
I'm different from Kevin. I have my network of people that I actually have known and grown up with and worked with. But I think research has shown it's sort of the weak ties that really expand your network the most. So how do you meet different people, people that you haven't necessarily worked with, people in different kinds of industries? And so I think a lot of, and I found my current job was because someone that I had
00:08:11
Speaker
been in contact with probably 20 years ago and then ran into again, had worked out of place and talked to a person.
00:08:20
Speaker
who could benefit from an experience that I had. So I talked to him and then he said, oh, do you know this recruiter and that recruiter, you know, connected me to somewhere else? So I think being open to having conversations with lots of different people, approaching them just with, you know, generous spirit and not saying I'm going to get something out of it or this is what I'm looking for, but just, hey, how can I help you? What, you know, who are you? What do you do? What kinds of things are really interesting? I also think that,
00:08:48
Speaker
the more you can bring adjacent or different kinds of industries together and get little inspirations from external kinds of places is really helpful. So taking yourself out of the transactional, being open to meet new people, doing it with generosity and just sort of expanding from there is how I think about developing that connection.
00:09:10
Speaker
I love that you just mentioned generosity. That really just was a very nice ping that went off in my head. That's how Jamie and I met. Jamie and I met through a mutual friend, Barbara Liss. Julie, I know that you know Barbara. And she made that connection. And Jamie and I have become friends over the past few months. And it's just been a wonderful opportunity when people are just generous and trying to help one another in a connected way.
00:09:40
Speaker
Jamie, how do you look at connectivity and just building a network? Well, it's one of my most favorite things. I think a large part of it is because I am an extrovert, so I do want to state that I know not everybody and what Julie and Kevin just said, you know, for some people it's this heavy lift. There's a lot of anxiety, I think, for a lot of folks that you hear about post-COVID too of just going into crowds again, especially Gen Z. I've had some friends have, you know, some younger folks on their teams and they're like,
00:10:07
Speaker
They don't want to network. They don't want to pick up the phone. It's a scary thing for them. And what I realized just for myself and being an extrovert, I think about it as its opportunity. And it's just a great way to, I think, to what
00:10:23
Speaker
both of these folks have just said it's like it's not it doesn't have to be transactional it's like getting to know other people expanding horizons learning from other people you just never know what you're going to get out of it and that's the exciting part it's like you have this opportunity it doesn't have to feel like i have to go to this thing it's like no you get to you you have this opportunity that so many people would kill to have right now
00:10:44
Speaker
you know, in that regard, and they may not get a chance to. And so I think it's flipping the script a little bit of the mindset. But I do want to recommend there's a woman Vanessa Van Edwards. And she's I love her because she's, she's focuses on public speaking, networking, and she talks about how she's an introvert. She's like, I get anxiety when I go meet people when I had to give
00:11:05
Speaker
you know, public speaking and all that she gives some really great tips of, you know, how to to revert that, even as an extrovert and just thinking at different ways how you can connect with people and learn about people is really key. So I highly recommend for folks who are just like, I'm an introvert, I don't like getting out, I don't like making the connections, like it just feels really heavy to me. And just really think about those resources and tools that could teach you along the way, because I mean, you're missing out on opportunity to meet new people.
00:11:31
Speaker
to what Julie said, can help you along the way or Kevin helping him find jobs along the way. I couldn't agree more. Those opportunities are from those connections, which are so huge.
00:11:41
Speaker
Yeah. So that's my recommendation of that. But I love it. I love getting in a room with people. The one thing I always try to take away with is once you meet somebody, it's not just about what do you do? Go a little bit deeper with them. Get to know who they are. Do they have kids? Do they have pets? Get the fun out of them instead of this what do you do question and just off the back. And then also ask them, how can you help them?
00:12:04
Speaker
Because I think people in Florida are like, wait, what do you mean? How can you want to help me? And I think it's always powerful to flip that to them because you never know how they can help you later down the line.
00:12:16
Speaker
I love that. Get the fun out of them. That that's it's
Meaningful Questions and Personal Branding
00:12:19
Speaker
being authentic. It's just understanding like who they are, how you can help them. It goes back to, to Julie saying generosity. Julie, walk us through, you had mentioned a few moments ago that it hit you a little bit later to be a connector and to realize what your network was. Can you peel a couple of those layers back to help us understand
00:12:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think probably people who know me might think I'm an extrovert, but I also feel like I'm an introvert. And so the idea of meeting someone that I don't know, and it's just like, it's making small talk and all of that kind of stuff. And I also haven't necessarily been good about sort of
00:13:02
Speaker
Keeping up relationships with people that weren't sort of the friends that I took with. So you work a place and then you leave and you take a couple of friendships with. But maintaining those relationships otherwise isn't something that I was necessarily good at. So I don't think I had the largest network.
00:13:19
Speaker
And then, you know, I had a mentor who was just, you know, an incredible connector. I had a couple of mentors who were incredible connectors and I sort of saw what they did and how they did it and started to meet more people through them. And then just realized that, you know, you don't have to be sewing your head about this. It's about meeting people, getting to know them a little, asking how you could help. And then, you know, sort of maintaining that. And you see people, you know, you see them at this conference, you see them at that conference, or you run into them here or there.
00:13:49
Speaker
And so just sort of changing that mentality and thinking about, you know what, I'm going to be less about me and my discomfort and more about who they are because these are really some pretty interesting people. And then, you know, what can I do to introduce them to other interesting people? And how can I continue to sort of build this forward and make those introductions?
00:14:10
Speaker
Um, and so, you know, I think it was really about sort of seeing the value in that, seeing that it doesn't have to be difficult. And then feeling some of the, you know, really, it feels really good when you connect people. It feels really good when you make a, you know, a real connection and other people, you know, find value in each other and, and, and, and.
00:14:32
Speaker
I've just, I wish I had learned that earlier. I taught my kids so that they know to do it. I think they still have that same sort of apprehension. Like, ooh, it feels like this is, you know, like weird, but it's just, it is, it is not just valuable and it's not just a professional skill. I think it's just, it is a personal, makes me feel good. I think I get more out of it than I give. I love that. You get these just this,
00:15:04
Speaker
renewed intrinsic value when you make those connections, when you bridge that connection and you know that it's helping someone, it just makes you feel great. It's the metaphorical warm fuzzies, so to speak. Yeah, exactly. Kevin, just in terms of building a real connection, what to you defines a real connection and just the... Give us a little bit deeper. When you said just... Yeah, like a real connection. Yeah, what does a real connection mean to you?
00:15:33
Speaker
So a real connection to me is dropping all the pretense, right? And so let me give you an example. So we all get those LinkedIn messages from an old co-worker like, hey buddy, what's up? And you're just like, okay, what does this person want? And I didn't really have a rapport with this person. I know what's coming. And then to say, hey, can you please refer me and do all this work and find a job? And you're just like, hey, like,
00:15:56
Speaker
you know, send me your resume, I'll pass it and I'm not gonna do that much work. I just don't know you that well. It's not a real connection, right? And in my job right now, I constantly have to meet, you know, I work with a lot of deans and provosts and, you know, CIOs and CFOs. And when they meet me, you know, I'm the Adobe guy, right? And for me to build a genuine connection, I can't lead with, hi, let's talk about your contract. Let's talk about, you know, how to integrate Adobe into your curriculum.
00:16:22
Speaker
they're like yeah yeah yeah yeah because then that's it's kind of like vendor speak and they don't have time for that i lead with hey you know how was your weekend um uh what did you do with the kids things i literally start completely like hey let's drop all this i know this is a really serious business thing we're all wearing suits and then we're in this
00:16:41
Speaker
you know, big conference room, but hey, just, you know, what do you do for fun? I literally just ask questions like that to the people at the highest level, and you would not believe what comes out of them. Because they're like, no one really talks to me like that. Everyone comes to me with a problem, or they come with me with a pitch, and you just go like, hey, how are you doing? Like, what's the toughest part? The best question I ever ask is, what's the toughest part of your job? Or like, you know, what's difficult? And they will go on and on.
00:17:06
Speaker
And to me, getting them to open up, that helps form a real connection. And not when they see me, they're not like, here comes the guy that's going to talk about all this stuff that I don't have time for. It's a guy that, hey, he now knows that my favorite whiskey is McAllen. We're going to talk about whiskeys. Or hey, we can form a different connection. It doesn't always have to be about this serious business talk. And the last part of that is people like to deal with people that they like.
00:17:31
Speaker
Okay, that's all it is is just connection. Like it's you can be the smartest person, you can be great at your job. But like, I just like this person. I generally like this person. You're good. You're not coming at me at a different angle. You actually are trying to get to know me, we can joke around a little bit. And now the business part is easy. You know, now we can talk about sales, we talk about the product, other stuff comes later, but I actually like dealing with you. So I'm going to pick up your call when I answer your email, I want to see I'm not going to have anxiety, I'm going to, you know, show up to that meeting you schedule. And to me, that's what it is is just being
00:18:01
Speaker
likable and actually caring about that person. And one last real quick note, because people get this wrong all the time. They say it's tough for me to find commonalities with somebody or it's someone that I don't know. Listen, that is incredible. It's such an incredible opportunity when you don't know anything. So when we first joined the college, Jamie was like, Hey, I'm from Delaware. I don't know anything about Delaware. Oh, come on. I literally don't know.
00:18:28
Speaker
I barely point out on a map. I've been to Baltimore side. I think I've seen Delaware from Baltimore. But to me, that excites me. I'm saying, OK, no, nothing about Delaware. Now I'm going to, this is an opportunity to learn. So what goes on in Delaware? What's the drama in Delaware? What's happening there? And now I'm going to learn all these new things. So just because you have nothing in common with somebody does not mean that you can't still connect with them, because this is an opportunity to learn all about Delaware. Then when Julie says, hey, I'm going to Delaware, I'm like, hey, you know what? Joey's from Delaware. You guys should talk.
00:18:58
Speaker
Like that is a type of connections that people kind of like take for granted because they're like, I don't speak this person's language or this person's from a different country. I don't see where the connection is, but that's great because now you can learn a new connection and then maybe that comes up down the road. So that's just my little spiel. So would you say it's about just asking questions, being a good listener, being authentic? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And knowing the right question to ask, you know,
00:19:24
Speaker
Again, what defines the right question? And this is for everybody. This is for Jamie, for Jamie. I'll let someone else answer that question. What defines the right question? Well, I was going to chime in and say, I think a lot of it is just showing up as your self-brand. It's your mission. It's your value. Just going to pivot to that. I mean, it's just, I think at times, and I know I felt this for the longest time when I started Under Armour, especially in big corporate cultures and when you're in that type of environment, you feel like you have to be, yeah.
00:19:52
Speaker
Would it be, can you take a step back and just tell people what you did at Under Armour? Because you've done, you accomplished a tremendous amount of feats, so to speak. Would love to have our audience understand just, you know, your background a little bit at Under Armour.
00:20:06
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. So I started there literally 10 days after college graduation. I started customer service and build my way up from there. I went into event marketing and at the time Under Armour was still very small. We really barely worked with agencies. So when I was on the events team, I worked on events such as the NFL experience, all to our All-America platform series, which is football, baseball, a lot of team sports.
00:20:31
Speaker
to the NFL Combine. I mean, you name it, we did it all. Any race sponsorships that we did. So we were just continuously putting on events, product launches, campaigns, we did it all. From there, I went over to social media marketing for a year and realized that as much as I loved online connections, for me, that extrovert really needed to be in person. So I made the move over to sports marketing,
00:20:56
Speaker
And at that time we just launched our new footwear shoe, our running shoe in 2014. And we had no assets. We had no athletes. We just launched the shoe. And so a big part of my job was to work very hand in hand with our brand marketing team.
00:21:12
Speaker
to find the right pro athletes, to communities, to influencers, and really scaling that department out from a global perspective. So throughout my time there, I also did the training department and just really had a great opportunity working on all different projects, small and large, and just seeing different facets of the company too, as we grew to a billion dollar company in 2010,
00:21:37
Speaker
to one of the most fastest growing brands in the world. There were some hard times, especially in the last few years of 2020, the brand power and figuring out how to revert that and really how to show up. So I had nine different lives there. I loved every part of it, of just learning different aspects because it's just helped me in my career today. But what I was going back to is
00:22:00
Speaker
starting at a company like that where you're drinking the Kool-Aid, you feel like you have to be a certain way that I got to a point probably five years in that I felt like I was doing all these other things outside my job and I was so scared to talk about it. I was teaching spin classes. I was helping with nonprofits such as Allman and doing runs and just being very involved in the community that I felt like if I talk about this, then people internally probably don't think I'm doing my job well enough because I'm doing these other things on the side.
00:22:29
Speaker
Something just clicked for me about telling my story and more about myself in the conference room with my teammates. And what I realized
Authenticity in Relationships and Branding
00:22:38
Speaker
was that showing more of who I was and myself branding, explaining that more actually allowed me to bring more to the table for projects and people were well, you know, especially working on the train team.
00:22:48
Speaker
They're like, what are you seeing in the spin room? Like, tell me what people are wearing. What are they, you know, what are they liking? What do you see them wearing on their clothes? And so what I realized was like, oh, it's okay to be myself. It's okay to show up more as Jamie and versus, you know, the typical UA employee that you just
00:23:05
Speaker
Figured that you see your mentors as and you just want they just want to see you as yourself and that's okay And just bring a point of view to to the table because for me a lot of times I was the youngest I was the only female especially on the run team and when I was on the road working with you know different agents and Sports agents on that side. It was tough at times. It was super intimidating But I realized that I actually have the advantage here, you know, there's a lot of
00:23:31
Speaker
men in this room who have the same opinion and I'm able to come to the table with a different perspective. And that actually helped us win some of the business with some of our athletes because I was able to resonate with them more. But, um, but yeah, I think to what Kevin started to give track, but like, I think what Kevin's getting at, it's like showing different parts of who you are is so key because they get to know you more and you feel like you build that relationship. So you can ask, how was your weekend? Hey, I know you had that event or, Hey, I know your kids had this game. Like how'd they do? And it just,
00:23:59
Speaker
You just feel like you've been seen and heard that the people are actually listening to you. And that's what really starts building that quality of a relationship versus the small talk. And, you know, it just doesn't feel as authentic. So, yeah, Jamie, I want to quickly, if I can change in school, like, of course.
00:24:16
Speaker
Virtually, I feel like that's what it's all about, right? Especially me, I started this role virtually, because obviously COVID, but I didn't know anybody on this side of the business. So every single conversation I had was transactional. I don't know this person. I have a problem that I need to solve. Hey, can you help me? It's really transactional. Can you help me with this? I don't know anything about this person.
00:24:37
Speaker
Whereas in the office, me and Jeremy went in the office together for what, four or five years? All that stuff comes naturally. You know, you see something on a chat speed on someone's desk and say, oh, you have a, you went to Delaware and then you have a flag. Let's talk about that. Or you see the picture of their family or you see, or whatever it is. So all that stuff comes naturally, or there's an event at the office. Everyone's going to happy hour.
00:24:56
Speaker
So exactly what you're saying, Jamie, is so important, but even more so virtually, because it's so easy to forget. You schedule a meeting, and you maybe have one minute of like, oh, how's it going? How's the weather? And then you go right into business. And so much of that gets lost. And so we have to, especially virtually, remember, hey, who is this person? What are their interests? Things like that. What do they have in their background if it's not blurred? But to continue those conversations, because a lot of that got lost once we all went virtual.
00:25:23
Speaker
Well, and I would flip it and look the other way as well. I mean, I think that we used to be trained in business and probably still are to be super buttoned up, right? To be super on top of things, super buttoned up and don't show any of the rest of what's going on in your life. And I just think that that's such a disservice. And if there's anything from these last few years, as we all started working from our homes anyway, and all of a sudden there were,
00:25:48
Speaker
kids and there was construction and, you know, things were hard. People were sick. We had to take care of each other. And so being able to really embrace all of that and keep it with us to start with a little bit of vulnerability, to start with this sense that we are all just people and we are all just struggling with so much. And so why not, you know,
00:26:14
Speaker
I think it is so important for people and particularly leaders in companies to be able to demonstrate that we're all just human and we've all got a lot going on and to start with that sense of vulnerability as opposed to that sense of, you know, like I've got everything under control and I know exactly what's going to happen at every minute.
00:26:34
Speaker
To me, that just seems so, it rings so false. And if there's one thing that I don't have a lot of time for these days, it's people that sort of front and have that sort of, I've got everything under control, because it's just not interesting. If you can't bring your authentic self and be vulnerable about who you are and what we're all, what it is that brings us all together and ties us, then that's the one thing I've got no time for. I love that.
00:27:04
Speaker
Julie, as you've been building your brand and have accomplished so many amazing
00:27:11
Speaker
components of your career as a CMO, as a head of marketing, as an executive that many, many people look up to and respect, including myself. Help us understand how you've built your brand over the years and just how it's easy for us to talk about vulnerability coming out of a pandemic and when we all are in our own home, but being vulnerable in an office, being vulnerable at an event, being vulnerable at a conference.
00:27:38
Speaker
help us understand like how you've been able to build your brand and your identity over the years. So first of all, thank you. That was all very, very kind. I mean it. Thank you. You know, I haven't Jamie can probably coach me I have not done enough work sort of like thinking through what my brand should be. And being proactive about
00:28:03
Speaker
building, you know, Julie Fleischer, the brand, what I have done is just sort of followed my instinct in terms of the things that interest me, the things where I think I can add value and the way I show up in the world. And I think sometimes that's worked really well for me. And sometimes that probably hasn't really worked very well for me. But I want to be true to who I am.
00:28:29
Speaker
And I want to make sure that I am helping lift people up alongside me and behind me. And again, at this point in my career, the most important thing that I can do is just make sure that that next generation of leaders is strong and confident and has the skills and knows what to do and feels good about who they are. And so that's
Effective Networking Advice
00:28:50
Speaker
really where my focus has been.
00:28:53
Speaker
And I have been very, very fortunate along the way. And Jeremy, we talked about this on the pod, to have some really great mentors and to have some really great people who have sort of lifted me up and done that for me.
00:29:07
Speaker
Amazing. Jamie, as you are building your brand and as you have built some mega brands in your career thus far, help us understand a little bit of just what are the areas that you would sit? What are the no-nos of networking? What are the no-nos? What are the areas that you would recommend to those that are looking for advice, those that are looking for expertise?
00:29:29
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like we talked about somebody what to do. I think it's just like, and I think Kevin brought this up of just like when you go into the conversation, you just kind of skip over, you know, you get right into the transaction, what you need to get done. And, you know, when you're networking in a room, I feel that at times,
00:29:50
Speaker
The body language or just the way that you're presenting yourself is just, you know, I think a lot of these tidbits of just being authentic and vulnerable and I think just also.
00:30:04
Speaker
You could just tell when you're not like giving your all, you're looking around, you're on your phone. Like on the phone thing drives me insane when you're at a networking event or even like I had an interview and I had somebody on the other side where I'm trying to talk to, I can tell she was on her phone. And I think, you know, and I get it. People have kids and things are happening. Life is busy. But when you're having a conversation with somebody and you could just tell they're on their phone and distracted and
00:30:30
Speaker
I think that's just Relationship 101. It doesn't feel good to be in the receiving end of that. And so just really being present in that conversation instead of being on your phone or looking around when you could just tell this person's distracted. So just really not doing those type of things and just showing up and paying attention. Kevin, Julie. I love that. That made me think about one thing about communication style because, again,
00:30:59
Speaker
I'll give an example. So one time, you know, I was emailing somebody, I really needed something done. I needed it, you know, there was a timeline, right? I had a deadline for this and they were not responding. I was so upset. I was kind of bad math on this person, you know, like I was like, man, what's going on with this person? Have you guys ever tried to email? Like what's going on?
00:31:14
Speaker
I realized that their communication style was like they only respond through a phone call, not text, an actual phone call. So I was like, oh, and now I know exactly how to work with that person, right? So one of the first questions I asked now was like, what is your preferred communication style? You know, like, do you like to text? Do you like Slack? Do you like Teams? Because I'm going to be you.
00:31:32
Speaker
doing, you know, hammering you on teams and thinking that you are completely just a useless employee, when really, you're really on Slack the entire time. And that happens all the time. And it's kind of just saying, hey, like, I understand that I'm putting pressure on you. Where are you coming from? Like, from your perspective, what's happening, right? Do you have a lot of things going on? Like, what type of pressure are you getting? Because I don't want to be putting all this on you and getting upset when really it's just a missing communication. And your communication styles is a little bit different. Or you need a little bit more time to respond and think about things.
00:32:01
Speaker
So I think that has helped me out a lot. And the last thing about building your brand, Jim, I know you're asking about that. I think it's about literally, I know people say, find your passion, whatever. Find out what you generally actually care about. What do you actually give a crap about? It's so important. Because then, I know they say, find what you love, and then you'll never work a day in your life. But you actually won't have to try that hard if you actually do care. So I actually care about speaking to people and making connections.
00:32:30
Speaker
So when I'm building my brand and say, hey, listen, you can reach me through texts. You can call me, email. That's not my communication style. I'd rather hop on Zoom or whatever it is like this and speak to you. And because I offer myself up like that, that's my brand. They know that I am communicator at this site, communicate with me, and they love that. Now, if they try to email me thousands of times and they didn't get response, they might think that, hey, this guy's a slacker. So it's just about, what do I care about? What can I offer? And what my communication style is.
00:33:00
Speaker
That's authenticity. Yeah. Hey, Jer. One more thing I had to add, like no, no. I just came to mind is when people make it a one way street, right? Like we're constantly asking from you all the time. And this might be a person,
Internal Networking and 'Whisper Brand'
00:33:16
Speaker
you know, already might be somebody new. And I feel like at times like you need to realize like you have to get back exactly what I was saying. How can I help you versus just me, me, me, me, or just that self-awareness when you're a conversation when I feel like
00:33:30
Speaker
we've seen these type of people in the room that's like 45 minutes in the conversation. It's been all about them. You haven't gotten two words and you're like, hello. I think just having some self-awareness is really key, but also just a mind of yourself. Like, yes, like
00:33:46
Speaker
Connections, networking is so key to receive, but make sure you're giving back to the person too, that you're just not taking it all in and making sure like, hey, thank you so much for helping me out with XYZ. How can I help you? What can I do to support you or whatever it may be? So just keeping that in mind too, because I feel like at times that happens and I don't know if people are self-aware of it, but just be conscious of it and making sure that you're just not asking for all the things and that you're getting.
00:34:16
Speaker
That's a good one. And I have one more thing. When I'm networking with young people, so people just out of college and just starting their career, what I try to do is make it really easy for them. So show up, ask questions, be warm, help them figure out what they want. Make it super duper easy for them. Take all of the fear away from it. And then what I say to them is now you do that for someone else. Show up and make it really easy for someone to talk to you. Make it really easy for them.
00:34:46
Speaker
Um, and that's a, that's a, that's a lesson that I like to sort of leave them with as well. If you can make it easy for them, it takes the fear away and now train them to do that for the next person. Pay it forward. Can I just add to that really quick, Julie? That was so well. I just want to, I want you to add to it, please, please, please. But I'm going to open up the chat as well because I want to be conscious of time seeing that it's about 40 after.
00:35:09
Speaker
And I know that three of you all have meetings in 20 minutes. So with that said, open up the chat case, people with questions. We've got a bunch of live viewers right now and some other folks have asked questions. Kevin, please go ahead and say what you're going to say.
00:35:24
Speaker
I'll do it really quick. I know we don't have too much time. But I always say, don't give people extra work. So don't send me an email with 15 bullet points and say this, and then give me a deadline. What is this? And a lot of people, especially people that I speak to, they don't have the time to break this out. So they delegate it. So I do have to send one of those emails and say, hey, sorry about this email. Let's hop on a call. I'm going to walk you through this. This is your part. Although I highlighted it, although I made it super simple in my head,
00:35:50
Speaker
doesn't matter. This person's communication style is sit down. Let's talk you through it. I'll show you exactly what I need from you. And hey, can we knock it out during this call? Let's do it. Like this make it very, very, very simple on top of simple, simple on top of simple. And then they'll appreciate that anyway.
00:36:07
Speaker
Love that, love that. Well, looking through some of the chat, Lee Lawler said, go Jamie. Katie Kinnemeyer, love hearing the perspective on connection and Miss Barbara Liss, a shared friend, all feel, she feels like that we are publicists for her. So with that said.
00:36:29
Speaker
Can you hear me real quick? So I know we've talked so much about like external networking. The one thing I do want to bring up is I don't, we don't talk about this a lot, just in general, but I think when you're working for a company, think about your network inside of a company. So for example, when I was at Under Armour, the big thing for me that when I was growing up in that, in that chapter was my network inside the walls of Under Armour or inside of wherever you're starting a new company.
00:36:56
Speaker
Think about networking in that sense too, because the one thing that really I would say helped me during my time there was making relationships, not just on my team and my department, but other teams cross-functionally was so key for me because when I needed something, when I was in like crisis mode at an event or product wasn't coming in on time and we had an event or an athlete needed something, those relationships were so key that I could pick up the phone or text somebody like, hey, I'm in a jam.
00:37:24
Speaker
here's what's going on. I could really use your help. Like fostering those relationships and networking internally is so key in that factor that it's not even necessary, you know, thinking about when you need something, but how you can help that team. And also it can propel your, your, your career in that sense, because the more folks you get to know, the more departments and people of the position of what they're doing, the more knowledge you're going to gain within the business, which is going to make you more knowledgeable in your role.
00:37:52
Speaker
which is huge. And just keeping in touch with them, you know, like I said, don't just call them when you need something, just check in with them. See, you know, how's the team doing something, you know, we went through a couple of layoffs when I was at UA, and just checking in with them like, Hey, I know it was a rough week. How are you doing? How are you holding up to good things when you see things happening across the company, and maybe it's their department that's killing it, just give them, you know, give them a shout and just say, Hey,
00:38:16
Speaker
Congrats. That's huge. So just really taking the time. I know it's harder that it's a hybrid type of situation for a lot of companies, but one of my favorite things to do is just sending somebody like a memo or Starbucks card for five bucks and just saying, Hey, let's get on a coffee date. Like it could be a walk and talk, walk and talk to my favorite and just getting on the phone with somebody and just say, grab your coffee, grab your Starbucks. I sent you four and we're going to just do a walk and talk separately and make it happen. So just different ways that you can build connections like
00:38:45
Speaker
within the building I think is so key. And then one other thing is a mentor of mine, Regan Walsh. She's amazing and she's taught me a lot. But one of the things she talked about is your Whisper brand. So when you're not in the room, you know, what do people say about you? You know, maybe they say to Julie, like, you know, behind her back and in a good way that she's a connector. She makes really powerful connections and she makes it happen.
00:39:09
Speaker
So think about, you know, when you leave a room, like what people are saying, obviously, you know, you do you and, you know, don't worry about people's opinions. But like, think about that whisper brand, what you stand for. And I think that allows you to be more unapologetically you in that conference room on that zoom, whatever may be. And I think that's super powerful. But I'll share the link about whisper brands from Reagan. She wrote a really great piece about it.
00:39:32
Speaker
I what
Closing Advice on Branding and Networking
00:39:33
Speaker
a great way to to basically close off the session up talking through whisper brands explaining what it is Thank You Jamie Kevin Julie would love just any parting advice any guidance that you can provide those that are watching this live or the recording Whether it's about whisper brands whether it's about sleeping dogs over your right shoulder Or if it's about providing guidance and advice to your kids and their friends and paying it forward
00:40:00
Speaker
I'll let Julie, you want to go first Julie? Sure, sure. I love what you said about Whisper Prince Jamie and I think that for me what that's all about is just showing up with intention. I think it's really really easy to just sort of like
00:40:14
Speaker
get caught up every day in just doing what you're doing. And you deliver at work, and you've got all of these things, and you just sort of get on that hamster wheel. But the more you can show up with intention and say, who is it that I want to be? And how do I want to show up? And what do I want to do for people? And how can I create that purpose around what I do? I think if you set that intention, then hopefully that Whisper brand will be a positive one. And it'll be the reflection of who you hope to be.
00:40:43
Speaker
and what you hope to be leaving behind. And again, I think it's never too late to start. So if you haven't started to sort of like bring that intention to work today, do it tomorrow.
00:40:56
Speaker
I love that. Thank you, Julie. And I'll go quick, Jeremy. Mine's just be ready, OK? Because I went to the bar with some friends. I've been out to the bar since I had kids. And I have a three and a one-year-old. So this was like a, I was like, oh my gosh, you know? And I was meeting people like, hey, add me on Instagram and add me on. I was like, wait, what? This is what people do now? They exchange socials. And I was like, oh, OK. The time has just changed. So now whenever I travel, I have an app called Blink. I'm not obviously promoting it, but it's whatever.
00:41:24
Speaker
QR code, whether it's to your socials or just to your contacts and say, hey, nice to meet you, whatever it is, get my QR code. And that's how you get in contact with me and they get your information. So be ready when you meet that type of person, you don't know where you're going to meet them. Have your LinkedIn profile optimized, have a way for them to connect with you digitally, you know, make sure that you can easily be found on these socials, because that's how they're going to maintain these connections a lot of times. So just be ready, you know, optimize all your socials and adapt to this new way of connecting with people.
00:41:54
Speaker
Be ready, be authentic, adapt, pay it forward. Think about your Whisper brand. This is Delaware, Redondo Beach, Chicago. This has been an excellent- Yeah, but you're missing out next week. Julie and I, we're just gonna hit the towel. You're gonna miss out. Please post on social media so I can follow along. With that QR code, for sure. For sure.
00:42:15
Speaker
All right, well, Julie, Jamie, Kevin, I appreciate you, all those that are watching. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch. Thanks for being part of ohhello.io as we are still working behind the scenes to build the platform. But creating this content for everyone is just so meaningful. And I just want to say thank you to everyone. I hope this was helpful. And I appreciate three of you taking the time and those watching. Thank you. Appreciate you, Jeremy. Bye, everyone. Take care. Bye.
00:43:10
Speaker
Bye, Jeremy.